


A Kitten is Still a Kitten, even after a Haircut

by Ortholeine



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Matt and Katie are twins, Mulan AU, Short, aged up pidge, more of a drabble than a fic, no future for this fic, t for some kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 21:56:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9461885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ortholeine/pseuds/Ortholeine
Summary: Katie Holt and Takashi Shirogane are friends, good friends, now that he is living with her family after escaping and rescuing her brother and father and himself from the Galra. But Princess Allura needs her paladins, the country need Voltron, and the only person so knows is a paladin for a fact is Captain Shirogane, who will become the Black Paladin. When he is called away to train new recruits (read: find the other paladins), his fiance Katie decides he shouldn't go alone.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of a mess, not edited, and not well thought out. I saw a lot of headcanons on tumblr for Shidge that made me happy, and I'm rebelling against the haters. I aged Katie up because I like her as a character older, and I think the dynamic is interesting. So here is a Mulan inspired mess of Shidge.

Princess Allura stood looking at the Star Bowl in her palace’s observatory. Her advisor, Coran, stood a short distance behind her.

“What are we to do?” She murmured, on hand holding her chin up, the other functioning as a resting spot for the other elbow.

“Princess?” Coran asked, stepping closer.

“Zarkon and the Galra are going to attack soon, and we have no paladins, no people to form Voltron and protect us. What are we to do?”

Coran cleared his throat and she turned to look at him.

“We do have one candidate, at least, for the position of Black Lion.”

Allura nodded, beginning to pace.

“Yes, the Captain. He was held by the Galra for quite some time, and is the first to have ever escaped alive, rescuing his team as well.”

“Exactly! We just put him in contact with some new recruits and hope the magic of the Lions is present and he chooses a team that will form Voltron!”

Allura stopped and looked at him.

“Coran, that’s brilliant! Send out the order right away—one child from every family within the Garrison village is to report for mandatory training, led by Captain Shirogane!”

 

Katie Holt was nowhere to be found. Her brother, Matt, and his best friend, Shiro, were supposed to be finding her to join the family for dinner but the past half hour had yielded no results. Matt stopped in the middle of the courtyard they had crossed at least ten times and sighed.

“For a genius and Captain, we sure are doing a fine job.”

Shiro snorted, smiling at his friend.

“You know that neither of us are a match for Katie. Besides, she probably just fell asleep somewhere neither of us can reach.”

Matt laughed and they continued their search together. Three years ago, Matt, as the older twin, had accompanied Shirogane Takashi and his father Samuel Holt on a reconnaissance mission in Galra territory. Everything that could have gone wrong did, and more, and for over a year the three were held captive by the evil Galra. Now, having escaped, Shiro lived with the Holt family while waiting for orders. Sam and Matt were both still on medical leave, and Katie and Colleen Holt had welcomed the men back with tears and scolding words.

In the past two years Shiro had become an integral part of the Holt family life, and he and Katie—despite their five year age difference—had bonded in ways Matt could never hope or want to. Katie didn’t know it, but dinner that night was going to have a surprise other than desert.

“Katie!” He hollered, standing in the stables with Matt. The younger man was checking each individual stall while he was supposed to be looking at the rafters. Subtle shifting from above made him suspicious, and in moments he had scaled the ladder up to the lofts. He smiled, relief in his heart, when he saw Katie curled up in a ball amongst the straw and hay. A mother cat and her new born kittens lay in a box obviously hand made by the youngest Holt herself. As Shiro moved closer, the cat hissed at him.

“I’m not here for you kittens, little one,” he murmured gently. He placed one hand on Katie’s shoulder and rubbed his thumb.

“I’m here for this kitten.”

When Katie didn’t wake, even to his softly calling her name and slight shaking, he sighed. Shiro stood and walked back to the edge of the loft. Matt looked up at him, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. Shiro grimaced and shrugged.

“I’ll have to carry her in; maybe tonight’s surprise will just have to wait.”

Matt shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“Nah, bring her down. I’ll wake her up.”

 

With a few scratches the only sign of the struggle that was waking his sister up, Matt sat proudly at the dinner table. Samuel Holt’s bandages were clean and stark against his grey robes, but overall the man looked marginally better than he had even that morning. There was a twinkle in his eye that was reflected in Matt’s eyes as well, to his right, and was mimicked in Colleen Holt’s eyes to his right. Katie, seated next to her mother and across from Shiro, didn’t notice as she only had eyes for the man who had been courting her for just a few months now.

As the family piled their plates at the empty end of the table, Sam gave Shiro a loaded look. Shiro swallowed roughly, and wiped his mouth with his napkin again. He stood up, pushing his chair out with a loud scrape that had him cringing, and walked around the table to stand next to Katie.

“What is it, Shiro?”

She glanced between her father and Shiro, confusion coloring her face.

The man lowered himself carefully to both knees, grabbing her hands in his. He searched her eyes, silver to amber, and started to smile. Katie began to blush under the scrutiny but didn’t say anything, her heart racing faster than it ever had before.

“Katherine Holt, with your family’s permission, I have a very important question for you. These past few years you and I have grown close, closer than I thought I could ever get with anyone again, and I had a realization recently. I love you.”

He paused, and figured that the tears starting to appear in her eyes were good tears.

“I love you with every fiber of my being. Will you, Katie, do me the honor of—”

“Yes!” She shouted, falling out of her seat and into his arms.

“Yes, a thousand times yes! I love you too Shiro,” she said, kissing his face.

Matt had laughed at his sister’s eagerness, and smiled sadly. Colleen was crying silent tears, and held her husband’s hand tightly. He was grinning, and for that moment all was right in the world.

 

 

The next morning, the joy and excitement of the household—there was to be a wedding soon!—quickly died with the appearance of a messenger straight from the Castle of Lions.

“Captain Shirogane Takashi! Commander Samuel Holt! Lieutenant Matthew Holt! The princess of our land needs presence at the Castle of Lions in a fortnight for urgent business concerning the Galra threat!”

Katie’s heart constricted with too many emotions—fear, for his fiancé of a day, her brother and father still healing, rage at this princess who commanded people’s lives without thought of the consequence, anger at the Galra for existing. Shiro kept his hand on her waist where he stood by her side.

“The Commander and Lieutenant are still physically unfit for duty, messenger. Tell the princess that she shall have her captain in a fortnight, and no sooner.”

With that, the messenger left them, the poor horse it rode upon visibly worn out. Katie turned to Shiro, looking up at him with desperate wide eyes.

“You can’t, you can’t be serious. Leaving, now?”

Shiro sighed and put his hands on her shoulders.

“I’m so sorry, Katie. But I can’t not do my duty; Princess Allura needs me and no one knows Galra tactics better than me.”

Katie looked away, off to the side. Shiro closed his eyes, thinking she was trying not to cry. In reality, the young woman was hiding the anger and jealousy she knew was evident on her face.

“I have to pack, and get things in order,” he said softly and walked away, leaving Katie standing there.

 

A fortnight came and went and Shiro was gone, traveling on his own to the Castle of Lions. His chest constricted and he coughed in an attempt to clear the pain away. Katie had refused to be there to show him off with the rest of her family, and he could only hope that after this war they would still get married. Her intelligence that rivaled—and quite possibly surpassed—both her father and brother’s, her compassion, her wit and sass, were all just some of the qualities that endeared her to him.

So it was with trepidation that Captain Shirogane faced his assignment. It was not what he expected: training? New recruits? But he did not complain. It meant that he would be safer for a longer time. He ordered his subordinate to have all the recruits line up, all ten of them, for introductions. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Some white strands fell into his face and he paused. Katie loved to play with that part of his hair, constantly experimenting to see if there was a reason behind the color change other than the assumed magic the Galra had used during their torture.

Shiro shook his head and left his tent, walking to stand in front of the line of bickering soldiers. None looked too experienced, and most were young—Katie and Matt’s age. He mentally kicked himself again and focused.

“Attention!” He shouted, not too loudly. Eventually the group quieted and stood at what they thought was attention.

“You are not here to play around,” he said, starting to pace back and forth in front of them. “The Galra threat is a very real one—trust me, I would know. At the end of this training five of you will have been chosen to form the ultimate team, the legendary Voltron. Until then, you are under my command. It is my job to make sure you not only survive the Galra, but the joining of Voltron.”

He paused, thinking he saw Matt out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face the look-alike and felt his heart stop. Katie was staring back at him, fierce and somewhat afraid. He blew out a heavy breath of air and closed his eyes, facing the sky, saying a prayer for patience.

“Sound off! Name and age.”

The first six were regular people, names he didn’t recognize for better or for worse, and stood more or less with good posture. Then he reached someone he knew.

“Keith, 20.”

Shiro nodded at the younger man—they had grown up in neighboring villages.

“Lance, 20.”

He watched the way Lance seemed to glare at Keith and wondered what that was about.

“Um, Hunk, 21.”

He nodded at the man. And then he turned his stare on Katie, and wondered what name she would give.

“Pidge, 19.” Without blinking an eye, she lied about her name. He narrowed his eyes at her before turning to face the rest of the group.

“Alright men. Fall out—get your gear together and come back here. I will assign you each a partner for the remainder of the training.”

Everyone started to disperse, but before he could grab her arm Katie had run off.

 

When they were lined up again, in the same order, Shiro took a second to thought. He paired off everyone—in a split second decision he put Lance and Hunk in the same tent, and Keith with Pidge. As the pairs set up their tents and personalized the spaces, he entered Keith and Katie’s tent.

“Keith,” he said, nodding at the young man who paused in his movements.

“Do you mind if I have a private word with Pidge here?”

“No, not at all Shiro.” And with that Keith walked out. Shiro watched him go and heard Katie fidgeting next to him.

“H-hey Shiro, how are you doing?”

Once he was satisfied that they were alone, he whirled around. His gentle hands cupped her face and he pulled her in for a kiss. They had locked lips more than once before, before and after their engagement, but Shiro had never so passionately stolen Katie’s air before. When he finally released her, his hands drifting down her arms to hold her hands, Katie still had a somewhat dazed expression on her face.

“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t recognize my own fiancé? The woman I want to someday marry?” He murmured, not sure whether to be proud and happy she was here, or angry and worried at the predicament they now faced.

“No, I…I just couldn’t let Matt come without sending someone in his place, and I had to be close to you. I have to do my part now to fight the Galra.”

Shiro took a small step back and sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I won’t go easy on you,” he said. Katie glared up at him.

“I wouldn’t expect or want you to.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“We can’t be seen together like just now, even if Keith knows.”

Katie opened her mouth but stopped.

“Keith knows?” She asked.

“Not yet, but I will be telling him. Before I met Matt, Keith was like the younger brother I never had—I trust him with my life, and yours now as well. That means trusting him with your secret too.”

Katie huffed and felt her cheeks begin to burn.

“I hadn’t even thought of that.”

Shiro groaned and rubbed a hand over his face.

“You will be the death of me,” he whispered.

Katie grinned up at him and Shiro couldn’t help himself smiling back, just a little.


End file.
